The state of California has the third largest prison system in the world and the largest in the United States. To understand how California got to this point in prison reform, you have to go back as far as 1994 when Proposition 184 was approved by voters with a 72% majority vote. Proposition 184 was the strictest "three strikes" sentencing law in the United States, which doubled the penalty for a second felony if the first one was serious or violent and carried a mandatory prison sentence of 25 years to life for a third felony (Greenwood, 1994). California went a step further by being one of the only states where the third felony did not have to be a serious or violent crime to count. The expansion of the three–strikes legislation …show more content…
According to research, Clemmitt (2007) states: “Prior to the 1980s, rehab was a strong component in correctional health thinking”, says M. Douglas Anglin, associate director of the Integrated Substance Abuse Programs at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Then you had a huge philosophical shift. Rehab had shown only marginal results, so the thinking became, 'let’s throw a sentence at people’.
As a result, Congress and state lawmakers enacted a plethora of tough-on-crime laws — such as minimum sentencing and three-strike laws — that ended up mandating incarceration even for nonviolent drug users and low-level dealers (Katel, 2007). Yet despite a large percentage of inmates in California prisons being addicts and mentally ill, lawmakers continued to cut funding for drug and mental-health treatment programs both inside and outside of prisons. Policy at that time was directed at solving the drug problem through imprisonment. As inmate levels increased to record levels, so did the volume of law suits filed by prisoners. From the late 1980’s to the early 1990’s, federal courts experienced an unexpected increase in prisoner litigation. Most complaints were focused on an inmate’s constitutional right to due process being violated because of an overwhelming rise in the inmate population which was backing up the court system. The Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) of 1995 was designed to significantly decrease the volume by
More than two decades of experience in the United States have proven that the substantial costs of incarcerating drug offenders would be better used "to fund drug treatment and harm reduction programs, alternatives to incarceration, employment opportunities and human services." U.S. Criminal Lawyers Warn Against Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Schemes. (2010, August 16). Targeted News Service, page 1. Retrieved March 8, 2011, from Research Library. (Document ID: 2112542531
This journal article discusses how the government has increased “mandatory sentencing” using “aggressive initiatives” for drug related crimes. Additionally, these government implemented sentencing guidelines have made the prison population grow
The state of Washington passed the first three strikes law in 1993. Anyone convicted of three separate violent felonies must be sentenced to life in prison without a chance for parole. Then on March 8th, 1994, California followed by enacting the law that sanctioned a sentence of 25 years to life for a third felony conviction. Contrary to Washington, the California law counts nonviolent felonies, such as burglary and theft as “strike” offences; by 2001, over 50,000 criminals had been penalized under the new law, far more than any other state, with almost a quarter of the prisoners facing a minimum of 25 years
According to the Legislative Analyst’s Office information guide, “ The Three Strikes and You're Out Law,” the purpose the Three Strikes Law is to enhance the sentences of really dangerous criminals like rapists, murderers, and many other crimes. This law has led to fewer guilty pleas, increase in jury trials, and to a “reduction in crimes committed by repeat offenders incarcerated for longer periods during its provisions, thus resulting in savings to local and state governments,” (The Three Strikes and You're Out Law). Susan Fisher states that proposition “ 57 effectively overturns key provisions of Mercy’s Law, 3 Strikes and You're Out, Victims Bill of Rights, Californians Against Sexual Exploitation Act - measures enacted by voters that has protected victims and made communities safer, ” (Proposition 57 Voter Information Guide). The purpose of the Three Strikes Law is also to prevent recidivism. Many people, however, have questioned the effectiveness of this law, especially since this law has increased the populations in some prisons, especially those in California, as stated in the article, “Three Strikes Sentencing Law.” However, the Legislative Analyst’s Office guide states that “ the number of inmates sent to prison under the Three Strikes law will be less than it originally projected,” (The Three Strikes and You're Out Law). Although it is criticized for keeping more criminals
According to President Bill Clinton, “We have a chance to pass the toughest, the smartest crime bill in the history of the United States,” and this was the California residents ' belief at the time the Three Strikes and you’re out law took effect in 1994.The purpose of the Three Strikes Law is to punish habitual offenders upon receiving their third conviction of any felony. Initially, if an individual receives a serious or violent felony conviction, this is a first strike; subsequently, the second serious or violent felony charge is a second strike and the individual will serve double the time originally assessed for the first felony. Finally, upon the third felony conviction an individual receives a minimum sentence of twenty five to life in prison. Even though twenty-three states, including the federal government, several politicians such as, Senator Bob Dole, and President Bill Clinton supported the passage of the Three Strikes Law. Undoubtedly, the Three Strikes bandwagon happened during a time in society when fear of crime was at its peak; as a result, law enforcement and other government officials went to the extreme in promising citizens to end habitual crime. Therefore, if the Three Strikes Law is to be a fair and impartial punishment for all criminals’ committing serious and violent crimes; then the crime committed must fit the consequences. Thus, is it fair to condemn a man who has two previous serious felonies for stealing a one dollar item on his third offense,
Washington state passed the three strikes law policy first in 1993. Any individual convicted of three separate violent felonies was to be sentenced to life in prison with no opportunity for Parole. In 1994, The state of California followed by enforcing a three strikes law that required a minimum sentence of 25 years to life for a third felony conviction. Washington and California differed in the interpretation of felonies the California law considered nonviolent felonies, such as theft and burglary as a "strike" offenses. By 2001 California had over 50,000 criminals sentenced under the new “ Three Strokes Policy” more than any other state in the United States.
The California’s Three Strikes Law was an act that came into place under the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. The law was enacted to help deal with violent repeat offenders. The essence of three strikes law was to require a defendant convicted of any new felony, suffered prior convictions of a serious felony to be sentenced to state prison. In this paper I will discuss the three strikes laws adding to prison overcrowding, does it targets non-violent offenders, and are these laws a deterrent. America’s incarceration addiction grew during the late 1980s and early 1990s, as state and local government passed the “three strikes” law called for mandatory sentencing of repeat offenders. California's "three strikes and you're
In March 1994, California voted to pass the Three Strikes Law with the majority of the vote, a bill that had been struck down multiple times by the state legislature (Naomi Harlin Goodno). This law would allow criminals with two prior felonies on their records to receive life in prison. These laws were proposed to keep serious repeat offenders off the streets, this was a result of the rising crime rate of the nineties. The law was presented to the electorate as a way to keep rapists, child molesters and killers of the streets, the most incorrigible of inmates; however, it has been proven that such laws unproportionally target minorities and persons with mental illnesses. African Americans are incarcerated at a rate thirteen times higher than
Before we talk about why New Mexico enacted the three strikes law, I want to first talk about its origin in California which influenced New Mexico to pass the law in 1994. The three strikes law is a penalizing system that allows the court to add significant time to the prison judgements of certain repeat offenders who have been put away for serious or violent crimes. The three strikes law was adopted in 1990s to allow stricter punishments for those offenders who have convicted very serious crimes more than once. In 1990s, Californians were encouraged to get tough on crime measures which histrionically increased the prison population and the length of prison sentences. Most candidates in the past years have dreaded with being considered as “soft on crime,” which got worse throughout the legislative route. The three strikes law was generated in the 1990s in reaction to18-year-old Kimber Reynolds, daughter of Mike Reynold murdered in Fresno in 1992 by Douglas David Walker, and kidnapped and murdered of 12-year-old Polly klaas by repeat offender Richard Allen Davis in 1993 (Figure 1). There were many citizens in California who were terrified by the statement that the repeat criminals are still on the streets wandering around freely with the long past history of violent crimes. After all the horrific violent crimes happened in California, California legislators and voters
The three strikes law implemented in the 1990s as deterrence for a crime. Even though the three strikes law created to remove those considered a threat to society, many agree that this law needs revamping. Studies show that the three strikes law has not detoured crime drastically, but has been successful in removing repeat offenders from endangering the public again. This law included crimes that were nonviolent or petty crimes counted as a third strike in California. The state of California has been one of the cities with the biggest incarceration rate since the three strikes law enacted.
All aspects of the prison system have increased exponentially since the 1970s: “population size, budget, staffing, and number of facilities” (Owen & Mobley, 2012, p. 46). Not only does California have one of the highest incarceration rates nationally and internationally, it also has one of the highest rates of recidivism. Prior to 2011, two-thirds of those released were re-incarcerated within 3 years, most often for technical parole violations – not new convictions (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation [CDCR], 2013); the majority of rearrests in California occurred within one year (Durose, Cooper, & Snyder, 2014). In Brown v. Plata, the Supreme Court ruled that California prisons violated the 8th Amendment on the grounds
Section 1983 of the Civil Rights Act of 1871 allows federal and state inmates to challenge alleged harsh conditions of incarceration via suits filed in federal court. “Lawsuits may claim that officials have deprived inmates of their constitutional rights, such as adequate medical treatment, protection against excessive force by correctional officers or violence from other inmates, due process in disciplinary hearings, and access to law libraries” (Schmalleger & Smykla, pp. 358, 2015). Some studies have suggested there exists a direct correlation between the number of confined population and the number of 1983 suits, as one number increases, so does the other. “Section 1983 litigation is a major portion of the U.S. District Courts’ civil caseload. One in every ten civil lawsuits is a 1983 lawsuit” (Hanson & Daley, pp. ii, 1994).
Reserved for those who previously committed serious or violent felonies the three-strike law states that the most severe prison terms. In general, California law defines violent felonies as those that cause injury to the victim or threaten the victim with a deadly weapon (for example, murder and voluntary manslaughter, mayhem, most forcible sexual offenses, and some categories of robbery, assault, and burglary). Serious felonies include all violent felonies, plus others where there is a potential for injury to the victim (for example, arson and the remaining categories of robbery, assault, and burglary).
The United States Correctional System is often challenged as to whether it wants to rehabilitate drug offenders or punish them, and because of this it mostly does neither. Even though drug abuse and drug trafficking are widely spread national issues, the mental, social, and economic costs of "healing" through incarceration are only making the "disease" worse. Never before have more prisoners been locked up on drug offenses than today. Mixed with the extremely high risks of today's prison environment, the concept of incarceration as punishment for drug offenders cannot be successful. Without the correct form of rehabilitation through treatment within Michigan's Correctional System, drug
During the Reagan Era, twelve prisons were opened in California. He announced the War on Drugs in 1982 and he raised the country’s concerns about the crack cocaine epidemic. He implemented a mandatory minimum penalty for all drug offenses to strengthen the goal of the War on Drugs. During this era, twelve prisons were made in California. Prior to this, only nine prisons were built from 1852 to 1955. The need for prisons were steadily increasing due to the War on Drugs and the country needed more prisons to house these prisoners. Prisons are often compared to as black holes. There is no way to escape and you lose hope to get out and find happiness in there. We see prisons as a solution for our safety and to help our inmates to grow as individuals in their time incarcerated. We no longer question prisons because they have become a normal part